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INS IDE TH IS

I S SUE :

NWADO STRATEGISES FOR ITS FUTURENWADO STRATEGISES FOR ITS FUTURENWADO STRATEGISES FOR ITS FUTURENWADO STRATEGISES FOR ITS FUTURE

A R P I L 2 0 1 1 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7

NORTH WEST ASSOCIATION OF

DEVELOPMENT

ORGANISATIONS— NWADO

Strengthening of civil society

Practical

things you

want to

see within

a defined

period

Underlying

barriers or

blockages

preventing

realisation of

the vision

Broad approach

to deal with the

Contradictions

in order to

move towards

the Vision

Specific ac-

tions to be

done

Doing it! Making sure

it gets done

17 March 18 Mar +

Quarterly 2011-13

Every

quarter for

2011-13

All members present All members All members Board

Members WH

O

W

HE

N

W

HA

T

NWADO members spent two days on March 17 and 18 defining the network’s strategic directions for 2011-

13, revising the mission and vision statements and creating working groups to ensure the plan is imple-

mented.

The participatory approach used to define the strategic plan had been used successfully for the previous

strategic plan in 2008. The approach required every person present to contribute their ideas which were

then grouped and given a collective name at each stage. The process is summarised in the table below.

There were many discussions and debates during the two days with one of the liveliest concerning the

revisions of the Vision and Mission statements. The final conclusion was that both needed to be

updated to reflect the new strategic directions. The Vision statement is now “To achieve a civil society

with a single voice and coordinated action for the

sustainable development of Cameroon” changed from

“To achieve a civil society with a single voice and coor-

dinated action for effective development ”.

The Mission statement has become “To advocate for

sustainable and equitable development processes in

which different stakeholders cooperate and contribute

to each others activities”. Previously this was “To advo-

cate for sustainable and equitable development proc-

esses in which various stakeholders co-operate and

contribute to each other’s activities.”.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Eric Ngang, Amy Down

EDITOR

Eric Ngang

Contributors

Michelle Hain, Hauwe Bouba,

Ndeh Emmanuel, Mato-Anju Lum,

Abeh Albertine Anembom Neba Nicoline Neh Ichai Hanson Ndaya

MEETING OF THE SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WORKING GROUP

NWADO new Strategic Directions

2

The Importance of Edu-cation and Personal Experience, MBOSCUDA

3

Action Research for Social Change Report from Yaoundé session

4

Solidarity Funds for Development, INADES FORMATION

5

Graduate trainees from the SHUMAS Vocational Centre

6

New Partnership with Adopt a Business

7

COMINSUD’s Volun-teer Assistance to NWADO

8

Campaign for Con-sumer Rights - OCOSO

9

Launch of the Opportu-nities Forum

10

P A G E 2

N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F D E V E L O P M E N T O R G A N I S A T I O N S

Introducing NWADO Strategic Directions; 2011-13

The focus of the first day was on developing the Strategic Directions and Areas of Actions falling within each Strategic Direction. There was agreement from those present that these Strategic Directions and associated Areas of Action would allow NWADO to move forward in a focused manner during the next three years whilst also providing sufficient flexibility to take advantage of new opportunities as they arose. The Strategic Directions and Areas of Action are summarised below, with further detail being provided to members in the full report and available on the NWADO website. While there was considerable work undertaken by participants during the workshop the real work begins when a plan is being implemented. Most people have had the experience of working hard to develop a plan only to see it sit unused in a drawer. To avoid this fate for the NWADO strategic plan a Working Group was created for each of the Strategic Directions on the second day. Working Groups, rather than committees, because they are about doing the tasks that are required to move NWADO in these Strategic Directions. The groups were self-selecting with each representative signing up their organisation to the Strategic Directions they felt they had the most to contribute. The first task of these newly formed groups was to formulate their implementation plans, starting by defining major milestones (achievements) for 2011. These milestones will be the bases for the quarterly detailed planning which the groups went on to do for Quarter 2, 2011. The rational behind quarterly detailed planning is to continuously apply what is learnt in one quarter into the activities of the next quarter. The milestones and main activities for each group are presented in the table on the new “Strategic Progress” page of the newsletter (see page 11). This page will be a standard feature of future newsletters so everyone can see the progress made and the upcoming activities. Comments and questions concerning any of these aspects are welcomed and will assist in building a strong process.

The Working Groups were formed by the member organisations present at the workshop, however it is important for

the strength of the network that all members contribute their skills and knowledge. All members who were unable to

attend the workshop are invited to join a working group of their choosing in order to contribute to NWADO’s

ongoing strength and relevance.

MICHELLE HAIN,

VSO VOLUNTEER

COMINSUD

MEETING OF THE MAXIMISING NETWORK POWER WORKING GROUP

P A G E 3

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7

“I am from a village known as Baba II in Santa Sub division. I come from a polygamous family with 15 brothers and sisters including my humble self (8 brothers and 6 sisters). None of them were opportune to go to school except for my elder brother Adamou. In the Mbororo community education is destined mostly for male children. My brother who is going to school influenced our father to send me to school as well. I started school in GBHS Mbatu with another two female friend’s from the same village. Unfortunately one of them got pregnant in school and all of us were forced out of the school by our parents with the speculations that all of us will join the same line. When we left school in form two, all my family members forced me into an unwanted marriage with a guy whom they saw as the most handsome and good for me and I had no other alternative than to accept. Interestingly, he promised to further my education which he did not respect after we got married.

N O R T H W E S T A S S O C I A T I O N O F

The Importance of Education and Personal Experience

Indeed I stood my ground for going back to school but he did not listen to me until I forced myself out of the marriage. I was strongly blamed by my family members who promised never to sponsor me to school again. When I learned about a sponsorship program in MBOSCUDA, I rushed there with my brother to see if I could find an opportunity to be sponsored. Indeed I was fortunate to be one of the beneficiaries selected for the sponsorship program. I returned home and told my family members about the opportunity I had for the continuation of my education and I had my admission in GBHS Santa to start in form 3 with successive progress each school year. Today I am in up sixth in the school and my family is proud of me and uses me as an example to others. My courage and determination influenced some of the parents to send about 10 other younger girls in my community to school. Thanks to the AGSP my interactions and awareness on issues in and around me is enhanced.

The MBOSCUDA sponsorship program commonly known as the Ambassador Girl Spon-sorship Program (AGSP) focuses on the sponsorship of Mbororo girls in secondary schools. The project has faced a lot of challenges especially at the beginning of the project in 2005. Some of the challenges included high school drop out, early and forced marriages, unwanted pregnancies to mentioned a few. Today most of these challenges are drastically reduced due to the sensitization and training packages on the importance of education, career choices, gender, health, and challenging the cultural myths on education. In 2011, a benefiting student of GHBS Santa shared her success story with MBOSCUDA

and the donor organization (Plan Cameroon). She gave the story of her life showing the

ambition of learning and challenging culture that is negatively affecting the girl child

education in the Mbororo society.

Today she is a role model in her community.

especially on basic rights, e.g. right to education. Today I am creating awareness in my community on the importance of education, HIV/AIDS, youth’s delinquency to mention but few. I have skills from the trainings I attended under the AGSP project and from implementing some assigned tasks to the community by the project. It is worth noting that I influenced the creation of a Mbororo women group in Santa which I visit on a weekly basis as their resource person and educate them on the basic rights, how to better interact with their neighbors and also reading and writing skills. Sometimes my absence in the group means I receive numerous phone calls from the women to find out the cause. While appreciating the sponsorship package, I also wish to suggest that it should go beyond the number of beneficiaries as it’s provoked our parents in sending more girls to school. The cultural myth of girls staying and groomed for marriage is gradually reducing”.

HAUWE BOUBA, MBOSCUDA

P A G E 4


to make a direct contribution to the capacity of civil society organizations, including VSO partners globally, to learn from experience in order to improve practice and therefore impact. Through an action research programme, involving a diverse range of social actors and organizations, the programme seeks to develop a varied and growing range of approaches, ideas, support materials, courses and local communities of practice that will encourage and support innovative learning practices within and between civil society organizations. This is expected to enable more dynamic, collaborative, effective and crea-tive social action practice. It further aims at developing “learning facilitators” in organizations, who will be supported to initiate, design and facilitate good organizational learning programmes and activities. During the workshop we took part in brainstorming exercises that resulted in participants having a common understanding of the action research.Learning facilitators supported one

NWADO is one of four partners along with Fantsuam-Nigeria, VSO-Ghana and Ghana Blind Union) to take part in the Action Research on Learning for social change to run for two years (2011-2012). Within this framework, the first regional reflection session bringing together three of the partners was held in Yaoundé, facilitated by the Regional Programme Learning Advisor, West & Central Africa. The purpose of the regional reflection was to help the participating organisations have a common understanding the Action Research on Learning for Social Change referred to as the Bare Foot Guide (BFG), collaboration among Civil Society Organizations, with PSO, VSO and CDRA as the holding group. This collaboration and process comes under the thematic learning group ‘Learning for Social Change’. Purpose of the Action Research Collaboration The Learning Practices in Social Change programme aims

another to explore their organizational questions and peers explored with learning facilitators to reconcile stories into an organizational question with clarity and focus. This was helpful for learning facilitators to come to a com-mon understanding of their own organizational questions. Following from this, the whole group reconvened to listen to each organizational question. At the end of the exercise the following was generated as a learning question for NWADO: ‘How can we contextualize

acquired method and approach

to learning for promoting learn-

ing and sharing for

organizational growth?’

Research tools and processes The following tools were identified by the learning facilitators to be used for learning process; questionnaires, group

discussions and interviews. For documenting, journaling, benchmarking form and the two

columns were identified as

applicable.

ERIC NGANG, CO-ORDINATOR, NWADO

First Regional Reflection Session on the Action Research on Learning for Social Change- Yaoundé, 18th & 19th April 2011

ACTION LEARNING: NEXT STEPS

Action Who and When

Finalize and share final plan for 1st Action Learning Facilitators- 29th April

VSO Ghana revisits issue of learning fa-cilitator

Regional Holder & Learning facilitator- 1st week in May

VSO Ghana to share its plan for 1st action 2nd week in May

Develop and share documentation format with learning facilitators

Regional Holder- Mid May

Share documentation of action plan 1 prior to second reflection meeting

Learning facilitators - 9th Sept.

Sustaining momentum- keep active vir-tual space- emails, teleconferences

Regional Holder & All- monthly, as and when

Second reflection meeting Abuja All- 27th & 28th Sept. Travel days of 16th and 29th

P A G E 5


To accomplish its objective of improving access to appropriate financial services to the rural poor on a sustainable basis, INADES Formation Cameroon promotes access to finan-cial services to the poor by empower-ing the rural communities to create, own and manage their own local finan-cial institutions that provide basic financial services to very low-income entrepreneurs, primarily women. These local financial institutions are called Solidarity Funds for Develop-ment (SOFDEV). This vision of IN-ADES Formation Cameroon on the financing of rural economy represents a shift from the paradigm of unsustain-able credit projects to a system of sus-tainable, adapted, locally- owned and locally -managed financial institutions, leading to the provision of appropriate financial services and other basic ser-vices to the poorest segments of the population, most of whom are women and youths. These categories of people are therefore able to create their own jobs, raise household incomes and improve on their living standards. These community based institutions are registered as savings and credit cooperatives and management is en-tirely in the hands of the local popula-tion with ongoing technical assistance being provided by INADES Formation. The SOFDEVs have proven to be very successful in reaching the poorest seg-ments of the population. A common denominator of these community based financial institutions is their proximity to the villagers and the flexibility and accessibility to all social categories in the community:

The minimum savings of 200 FCFA is at the reach of a quasi totality of the community members contrary to 1000 and above required by other microfi-

nance establishments

The share value of 1000-5000fcfa per share is also practical for the rural com-

munities. Other microfinance institu-tions take 25,000 fcfa and above.

The interest rate on loans for the SOF-

DEVs is 12 % per annum as against 18-25 % practiced by the existing microfi-

nance institutions.

The ownership and management of the SOFDEVs is entirely in the hands of the

community members.

Loan collateral is mostly based on com-munity solidarity and cohesion. Mini-

mal physical assets are required as loan guarantee.

Most microfinance institutions require land certificates, buildings, and other

huge investments as guarantee for loans.

The Bamendankwe Solidarity Fund for Development (BASOFDEV) is one of the initiatives put in place with the support of INADES Formation. BASOFDEV was created in 2004 and located in Bamendankwe village in Bamenda I sub Division and has the status of a Loan and savings cooperative since 2008. During the period from 2005 to 2010, the technical support of INADES Formation Cameroon focused on the

SOLIDARITY FUNDS FOR DEVELOPMENT: A SHIFT FROM THE PARADIGM OF UNSUSTAINABLE CREDIT PROJECTS TO

SUSTAINABLE LOCAL INSTITUTIONS OWNED AND MANAGED BY THE

LOCAL POPULATIONS


mobilisation of savings by members, organisation and structuring, record-keeping, management of operations, management of the resources mobilised and computerisation of operations. Through this support, BASODEV has mobilised significant resources which are given out to members as loans for the financing of their microenterprises. Amongst the results recorded are:

• Membership has increased to 1317 members (570 men et 657 men) ,90 groups, giving a growth rate in membership of 22%

• Total savings mobilised by mem-bers is 119.530. 828 FCFA, with a total outstanding loan of 122. 809.000 FCFA as at December 2010 and a recovery rate of 96%

• 75% of the loans went to finance economic activities of members and groups.

Given these results, there is no doubt that the SOFDEVs which operate more on a money-from-below approach contrary to the popular money-from -above approaches are a plausible alternative for the sustainable financing of the rural world.

NDEH EMMANUEL RURAL MICRO-FINANCE

EXPERT INADES FORMATION BAMENDA

BASOFDEV BOARD IN MONTHLY SESSION

P A G E 6


A Rural Development Project Capitalises on the Experience of INADES

FORMATION CAMEROON in Rural Microfinance

One of the activities within the

capacity building component of

the Grassfield Participatory and

Decentralised Rural Development

Project (GP-DERUDEP) was to

enable the rural communities have

improved access to financial ser-

vices through the modernisation of

indigenous financial mechanisms in

the local communities such as the

njangi’s. In partnership with IN-

ADES, 50 village banks (SOFDEVs)

were created in the North West

Region.

The activities undertaken in the

process to set up the village banks

took place in different phases as

follows:

♦ Sensitization and awareness creation on the village banking concept

♦ Feasibility study on the setting up of village banks to permit an understanding of the socio-economic environment of each village, the mode of

organization and functioning of the in-digenous financial structures - njangis and the savings and loan practices in the com-munity.

♦ Organisation and structuring of the village banks

♦ Training of Village Bank Board mem-bers

♦ On- the- spot training in each of the 50 villages of the elected Board mem-bers to build their capacity on basic accounting, savings and loans proce-dures, record keeping and resource mobilisation.

♦ Experience exchange workshop organ-ised with the village banks presidents.

♦ Basic documents for records were printed and put at the disposal of the village banks

Amongst the results obtained were:

♦ 50 Village banks set up organised and are operative, covering all 7 Divisions of the Region

♦ 34/50 village banks registered as loan and savings cooperatives

♦ Each of the 50 village banks has elaborated bylaws, savings and loans policies and procedures. The bylaws also embody a section on the financial and administrative procedures

♦ A total of 813 Board members of village banks (527 men, 273 women) acquired skills on basic recordkeeping for village banks, loan portfolio management and financial resources mobilisation. This gives an average of 16 Board members trained per bank

♦ Significant savings mobilisation and loan disbursement by the village banks

♦ 98 % of the village banks are keeping records of their opera-tions using the tools acquired.

NDEH EMMANUEL RURAL MICRO FINANCE EXPERT INADES FORMATION BAMENDA

THE PRESIDENTS OF VILLAGE BANKS DURING EXCHANGE WORKSHOP

SHUMAS VOCATIONALREHABILITATION CENTRE SENDS OUT 10 TRAINEES SHUMAS VOCATIONALREHABILITATION CENTRE SENDS OUT 10 TRAINEES SHUMAS VOCATIONALREHABILITATION CENTRE SENDS OUT 10 TRAINEES SHUMAS VOCATIONALREHABILITATION CENTRE SENDS OUT 10 TRAINEES

On the 13th of April 2011 SHUMAS graduated 10 trainees after 2 years of intensive training. They were assisted with

promotional material to enable them start up their own workshops. The trainees graduated in Jewelry, shoe mending and

making knitting, hair-dressing and cane weaving. After the two year course on life skill training reinforced by moral

enhancement and capacity building workshops on economic productivity, they were proved to have assimilated skills in

basic management, financial book keeping, leadership and most importantly their respective trades which will enable

them attain a fulfilling life and be actively participative in community development.

The graduation ceremony was attended by government officials such as the Representatives of the Governor of the North

West, the Regional Delegate for Employment and Vocational Training, the Mayor of the Bamenda III Council, the Regional

Delegate for Small and Medium Size Enterprises, and the representative of the Fon of Nkwen.

A few weeks after the graduation ceremony, SHUMAS organized a follow up visit to

their various workshops. The visit which took the team to Bafut and Nkwen enabled

SHUMAS to see how these trainees are coping in a new and challenging

environment. The team was out to know how they are running their workshops, the

challenges they are facing as well as the situation of their market. After the visit, the

team was quite satisfied with the trainees who were already very established and in

control of their workshops. An association of ex-trainees will be formed to bring

trainees together so they can assist each other based on their experiences.

Before, SHUMAS placed trainees in workshops in town but due to their disabilities they suffered stigmatization. This

slowed their learning process. In 2009 SHUMAS established a training centre in Mile 6 Nkwen, where they are trained in

hair dressing, jewelry, traditional embroidery, sewing, cane weaving, knitting, shoe mending and making workshops.

Presently, we have a total of 19 trainees and 7 trainers.

P A G E 7



New Partnership with Adopt-a-Business, UK

with VSO and the NWADO-AAB partnership aims to support NWADO to achieve its organisational objectives and in so doing bring the benefits of its services to a wider group of members organisations.

This to be achieved through:

♦ Effective management of the process of identifying partners

♦ Supporting the development of effective assignments

♦ Managing local assignment support process within the programme

♦ Promoting learning and challenges to management sys-tems within partners and NWADO

♦ Increase NWADO’s prestige and reputation by representing AAB under this MoU.

NWADO acting on behalf of AAB in Cameroon in addition to the above is currently building a partner base, identifying and evaluating potential assignment opportunities, in charge of making local arrangements for logistics, establishing basic communication systems and sustaining good communication with the UK team, developing and updating a detailed emergency and risk assessment plan.

ERIC NGANG, COORDINATOR, NWADO

In late 2010, NWADO signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK firm Adopt-a-Business (AAB) as In-Country representative for the management of assignees from Wales within the framework of AAB’s implementation of the International Learning Opportunities (ILO) Programme supported the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). This partnership went operational in January 2011 with the placement of the first assignees. Within the programme, AAB seeks to bring together partner organisations, assignees and their employers to achieve:

♦ Specific problem solutions and capacity development for local partner organisations

♦ Personal and professional development for the assignees selected by WAG and AAB under the ILO programme

♦ Improved employee capacity and received learning for WAG or other supplying organisation.

♦ Long term social and economic benefits to the partner organisation and to the wider community within which they operate.

In the partnership, assignees who are professionals in their chosen domains shall address themes of organisational development and capacity building for partner organisations. NWADO was seen as the ideal partner in Cameroon to management such a partnership because of our long experience in the hosting and managing of short term volunteers from abroad within the framework of partnership

MBOSCUDA PLACEMENT MBOSCUDA hosted Emily Robertson between the 24th March-9th May 2011 who came with a background in Community development and international relations, working as fulltime manager of the African Community Centre in Wales. The overall objective of her assignment at MBOSCUDA was to work with the programme coordinator in the North West office of MBOSCUDA to:

♦ Produce a capitalisation document on the experiences (Successes, best practices, testimonies, challenges etc) of the MBOSCUDA North West Chapter and the major points of learning from these experiences.

♦ Validate and amend the assessments with key staff and other stakeholders of MBOSCUDA’s work.

♦ Set out clear recommendations for areas of focus and strategies to implement them, again working with the project co-ordinator and the MBOSCUDA team (North West Chapter team and National Bureau members)

♦ Make recommendations on transferring these areas of strategic focus to the MBOSCUDA National Bureau. Using different participatory approaches, working across section of MBOSCUDA stakeholders, from community to na-tional level, Emily facilitated MBOSCUDA processes, identifying their own issues and agreeing on strategies to implement them and also make the National Bureau more vibrant and to meet the expectations of the regional bureaus. At the end of her placement Emily was happy to remark that: “Definitely, there is a huge potential with MBOSCUDA-a minority group that has organized at a phenomenal level, traditionally

organized in a way and very able to and capable to host an international volunteer. I have worked for an umbrella refugee

organization, supporting smaller organisations in capacity development. As a manager, it was difficult to find my niche until

the last few weeks; I was able to see the purpose of my coming to work with MBOSCUDA and understanding fully my terms of

reference. MBOSCUDA was a wonderful organization with a huge human resources potential lying untapped”

P A G E 8


FUTURE

PLACEMENTS

NWADO is cur-rently develop-ing placements

for the next group of assign-ees and it is ex-pected that 4

volunteers shall be placed in or-ganisations or

institutions from September 2011. Please contact the NWADO if you are inter-ested and we

can explore with you further.

NWADO PLACEMENT Within the period January 28-March 24 2011, NWADO hosted Rebecca Rambul. Rebecca has a management background and came to NWADO at a period when the membership was looking for new orientations as to how NWADO was delivering services as a network. NWADO was experiencing a rapid growth in the membership and partnership base and it

was time to look at the delivery of products and services to ensure that they met the present dispensation of a vibrant network. Prior to her coming, a questionnaire had been administered to capture the needs and expectations of members developed by Volunteer Ginette Johnstone (VSO Volunteer at NWADO, October-December 2010). The feedback from the questionnaires provided enough groundwork for Rebecca to begin work at NWADO.

Furthermore, detailed discussions, interviews were held with a cross section of the members to complement the feedback from the questionnaires. Rebecca used the

findings from the analysis to generate a management report with key recommendations to meet the needs and expectations of members of NWADO as a growing network. A self-use toolkit was also developed and distributed to all members in response to the request for more training and capacity building for general aspects of good practice in managing a successful NGO. Also worth noting is the fact that recommendations from Rebecca made informed the strategic orientations of NWADO for the period 2011to 2013 following the strategic planning plan development process in March 2011.

REBECCA RAMBUL FACILITATING AT THE OPPORTUNITES FORUM

brought a new impetus to the

working culture at NWADO

especially after initiation of many

process and projects such as the

Opportunities Forum which is a

flagship forum regrouping

graduates from higher institutes

of learning to build their skills

through sharing and learning,

qualifying them for work in civil

society organisations in the

North West Region.

Michelle was the lead facilitator

in the development of the

NWADO 2011-2013 strategy

with the introduction of the no-

tion of working groups made of

representatives from members

organisations around the strate-

gic orientation developed have

been some of the major things

Over the years, thanks to the long

term partnership between

NWADO and VSO, placement of

long term organizational

development advisers NWADO

has achieved a lot in terms of

organisational development and

growth.

In the last 10 months in the

process of trying to get a long

term Volunteer from VSO, the

growth and achievements have

been remarkable with volunteer

time put in by Michelle Hain,

Organisational Development

Adviser to COMINSUD.

This has been seen as the best case

scenario showing how members

can mutually use resources espe-

cially the scarce human resources

we are often in need of.

With her huge management

experience, Michelle Hain has

that have contributed the thrust

NWADO is presently experiencing.

Key to this experience has been the

transfer of professional management

advice and know-how to the

coordination team at NWADO.

The NWADO coordination wishes

to thank COMISUD for their

flexibility and understanding for

always giving the necessary support

to the network especially when the

network finds itself in a crossroad.

This experience gives NWADO the

opportunity to see how relevant

mutual human resources sharing

can be useful and relevant, especially

for smaller and new member

organisations that do not have the

potential to host full placements.

ERIC NGANG,

COORDINATOR, NWADO

Mutual use of resources a true promoter of Networking;

The case of COMINSUD’s Volunteer Assistance to NWADO

P A G E 9



THE PANEL DISCUSSION at the Opportunities Forum

The first presenter was Mr. Eric Ngang who graduated from U.B. with a BSC in Environmental Science, served as a volunteer in SIRDEP for a year. He applied and was selected for the position of Coordinator of NWADO when the network was launched in 2003. From Eric’s success story we get an understanding that work experience is not taught in school or bought in the market. Experiences can only be gotten when we integrate ourselves in an organisation and prove our worth.

We should be proactive, focused and set in our values in order to meet up with the goals of the organisation. We all have big dreams of getting well paid jobs upon graduation but that is often not the case. We must in one way or the other give our services for little or nothing to gain the experience in order to find bigger opportunities. We must first start

from somewhere; maybe if Eric did not volunteer he would not have been where he is today.

Many other people have succeeded as a result of giving their services for little or no pay. Pamela Ijang who is the coordina-tor of Cameroon Medical Women Association has a different story. She served as a volunteer for three years in different organisations before being where she is today. Her success came as a result of her patience and hard work in the different

organisations where she found herself.

Fai Cedric is another person who has made it as a result of volunteering. He is an Advanced Level holder who volunteered at the Tubah council for a year. The urge to serve his community led him to form an organisation known as the Leaders of

Tomorrow International where he is presently the coordinator.

Organization for Consumer Sovereignty (OCOSO) is an organization that seeks for collective strategies in solving consumer rights related abuses. it is within this framework that the organization was created, in line with the United Nation’s guidelines for consumer protection of April 1985 elevating consumer rights to a position of international recognition and legitimacy, yet they continues to be ignored or trivialized by government, producers, service providers and those with powerful positions. In Cameroon, monopoly services such as the energy sector; water, telecommunication, gas and fuel are witnessing an increased in violations of consumer rights with impunity, more especially AES SONEL that has taken the consumer to be a vegetable farm where they keep on harvesting at our expense. There is little or no concern for consumers who are the financial source of their existence. Statistics collected in the North West indicate the percentages of abuse in the domain of electricity annually. The entire popu-lation of the region suffered electricity interruption mostly on Sundays, 45% report low voltage, 30% intermittent blackout in quarters, 90% non-respect of the exoneration tax below 110 units, 46% unreasonably high bills as compared to the former corporation, 72% large and unjustifiable penalties, 100% unjustifiable meter rents, 7% wrongful disconnection, 89% queuing for days to pay bills, 25% faulty internet network, 20% distortion of facts for claim by AES SONEL , destruction of electrical appli-ances by high voltage from irregular supply 36% , reimbursements of cautions at the termination of contract 12%, repairs of individual network 15%, handling of unofficial reported complaints 22%. This is clear evidence that AES SONEL does not have a consumer policy within their management system. As such complaints from consumer do not impact their decisions in any form. In light of the above, consumers can only fight by constituting themselves into consumer interest groups to act as a countervailing force. This is whereby interest groups have to assess their impediments in terms of economic loss and otherwise which could be quantified and justified for any possible legal action as evaluated in line within the recently enacted laws on consumer protection of May 6,2011 in parliament. OCOSO is in the days ahead is mobilizing the population to register all acts of abuses/complaints in the domain of electricity at the Head Office situated at Hospital Roundabout first storey building on your left on the street to Old Church Junction directly behind former Preventive Medicine. The hope of consumers to rely on their collective response and commitment to secure their rights and economic interest for sustainable consumption as way forward for any meaningful development. The initiative of a consumer protection organization lies in the hands of those who believe in the protection of their rights and the safeguard of their economic interest with the firm commitment to guarantee its objective through active participation in all areas of consumer violation. OCOSO’s door are open to entertain any complain of consumer abuse of any kind from the general public. TIFANG PETER, OCOSO

Campaign for effective and satisfactory quality of products and services to consumers in the North West Region


Launched at NWADO

There are thousands of graduates roaming our

streets today as a result of unemployment. Young

people upon graduation hardly find an organization

to incorporate them into the system as volunteers or

permanent workers. The routine of being employed

in our society is so often on the basis of “man know

man”. Those who do not have people to fit them in

an organization find themselves unemployed.

It is as a result of this that NWADO and

the VSO team decided to come up

with a forum where graduates who

are willing and able to work can be

linked to different organizations

searching for highly qualified

graduates as

volunteers. The

Opportunities

Forum is also an

avenue for

graduates to share

their experiences

and learn new

skills from other

successful people

who had

volunteered in the

past.

The first Opportunities Forum was

held on the 17th

of February 2011 at

NWADO. It started only ten minutes

late due to the number of participants

who were present at the hall. There

was a prayer from a participant after

which a brief introduction of what the

Opportunities Forum is all about by

Michelle Hain, a VSO volunteer. She

explained the meaning of opportunity

and forum, concluding that the

Opportunity Forum is a favourable set

of circumstances that brings people

together for the benefit of the society.

Among other interesting activities of

the day were an ice breaker during

which Rebecca Rambul,

a Welsh Assembly volunteer working

with NWADO, read the longest word

in Welsh which is

the name of a place

in Wales.

There was a

communication

exercise on how

effective

communication can

be carried out and

how the same

information can be

interpreted by

different persons. A sketch by “La

Liberté acting group” based on

communication showed how projects

can be realized by different persons

based on how the

information is

transmitted.

Points about good

and bad

communication

were drawn from

the participants and

when the second

communication

exercise was carried

out four out of five

groups did better after the lesson.

There was also a panel discussion from

successful people who gave their

stories about how volunteering

impacted their lives. From the panellists

we learnt that being a volunteer does

not count on the qualifications we have

but by what we can offer to the success

of the organisation. From the

experiences of Eric, Pamela and Cedric

we see that volunteering is not a waste

of time but an opportunity to prepare

us for better jobs ahead.

Finally, the Opportunities Forum was an

event with a difference because

participants came earlier than expected

which was a sign of their commitment

and seriousness to the event. The turn-

out was encouraging indicating that

thousands of

graduates are

looking for where to

give their services.

We hope that the

forum will meet the

demands of the

unemployed.

Compiled by;

Mato-Anju Lum,

Abeh Albertine Anem-

bom

Neba Nicoline Neh

Ichai Hanson Ndaya

pportunities Forum

MICHELLE HAIN DISCUSSING WITH PARTICIPANTS

PARTICIPANTS SIT ATTENTIVE DURING THE PANEL DISCUSSION

The Opportunities Forum is a gathering to share ideas, experiences, knowledge and skills

through discussion and small workshops aimed at exposing qualified persons to Civil

Society Organisations (CSOs) in the North West Region of Cameroon. Meeting every first

Thursday of the month at NWADO office. Visit the blog for more information:

www.opportunitiesforum.wordpress.com

P A G E 1 0

P A G E 1 1



Strategic Progress — Quarterly Update Maximising Network

Power

Extensive and Effective

Outreach

Sustainable Resource

Management

Working Group:

OCOSO, EM Cameroon, CMWA,

CODEF, CIPRE, JPC

Working Group:

MADO, RISIG, UNIF_HUDO,

BERUDEP, MT ZION, NOWECA,

FAP, SIRDEP

Working Group:

HEDECS, SHUMAS, NAVTI,

LIGHT, MBOSCUDA

Milestones Qtr 2

♦ Non-active members more

informed of activities

♦ Database of areas of exper-

tise within network

♦ Population NWR informed

of NWADO and its activities

Milestones Qtr 2

♦ Increase membership from 35

to 40

♦ Carryout diagnosis on

divisional structures

Milestones Qtr 2

♦ Define strategies for resource

(Human, Financial, Material)

mobilisation

♦ Reinforce existing partner-

ships

♦ Collection of at least 50%

outstanding members dues

Results to date:

♦ List of inactive members

prepared

♦ 7 non-active members vis-

ited and invited to AGM

♦ Planning underway to iden-

tify advocacy issues and do

learning on advocacy using

the idea of learning sets.

Results to date:

♦ Draft posters produced about

NWADO as a marketing tool

♦ List generated of members and

their physical locations

♦ Draft power point presentation

on NWADO and its activities

prepared.

Results to date:

♦ A list for members concern-

ing payment of dues estab-

lished following the said

format.

♦ Document of current

NWADO of resources and

what is needed

♦ List of current and potential

funders established

Upcoming Events at NWADO

JUNE

♦ NWADO Executive meeting, Venue: NWADO Conference Hall, Time: 1pm ♦ Second General Assembly meeting, Venue: NWADO Conference Hall, time 10am ♦ Launching of advocacy learning set by working group on NWADO Strategic Orientation

maximising Network Power. ♦ Reflection and development of Terms of Reference for The North West Region Media CSOs Forum.

JULY

♦ Review of implementation of 90 days Milestones on NWADO’s three Strategic Orienta-tions.

♦ Development of reflection on next quarter actions vis-à-vis the strategic plan. ♦ Visit of Peter Ganther, Grants Manager, MIVA Switzerland ♦ Visit of Programme Manager, Democracy and Governance, Commonwealth Foundation ♦ Debate: governance in Africa – past, present and future; followed by the launch of new

publication Governance in the Commonwealth: current debate.

AUGUST ♦ Call for articles and publication of NWADO Quarterly Newsletter

Current Member

Organisations

Angel of Mercy

BERUDEP

Better World Cameroon

CAMNAFAW

CENC

CESUL

CHAMECC

CIPCRE

CODEF

CMWA

COMINSUD

CRAT

GHAPE

HEDECS

HWOM

IDF

INADES Formation

Currently, NWADO has 37

Member organizations.

Membership in NWADO is open

to organizations that:

1 – have been operational for at

least three years,

2 – present (at least) three yearly

activity reports,

3 – are legally recognized, and

4 – have an office in the North

West Region of Cameroon.

Contact NWADO today to become

a member of this engaging and

active association and contribute

to the strengthening of Civil

Society of the North West Region.

IVFCam

Justice and Peace

Commission

LIGHTAFRICA

MBOSCUDA

Mount Zion

Foundation

Navti Foundation

NDEF

NOWEFOR

NOWECA

OCOSO

PEACED

Positive Vision

Cameroon

RISCIG

SAFCAM

P.O. Box 1132

Mankon—Bamenda

North West Region

Republic of Cameroon

Phone: + 237 77 82 92 59/33 16 1032

E-mail: [email protected]

www.nwado.wordpress.com

The North West Association of Development Organizations

(NWADO) was created in 2002 by a group of organizations active

in the development of the North West Region.

NWADO aims to increase the capacities of its members and other

interested Civil Society Organizations, by facilitating the sharing of

experiences and information on issues related to development

within the North West Region.

Bringing organizations together, NWADO enhances partnerships

and collaborations, creates opportunities for the coordination of

activities to avoid duplication and waste of resources, as well as

initiates advocacy and lobbying initiatives for common

development goals.

NWADO also maintains a database of Civil Society Organizations in

the region, updates its inventory of members, services, activities,

funding sources and procedures, as well as provides a shared

resources centre and library to its members.

North West Association of

Development Organizations

Interested in becoming a Member of NWADO?

The Strengthening of Civil Society

SHUMAS

SIBADEF

SIRDEP

UNIFHUDO

WACameroon

YAD

For more

information about

any of our member

organisations please

visit our office or

check out our

website

north west association of development … … · admission in gbhs santa to start in form 3 with...

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